damned_institute | Night 67: F1-F10 Hallway

Entry tags:

leanne,
lust

Night 67: F1-F10 Hallway

This time, there was no hesitating. There was no contemplating or dithering or taking anyone's feelings into consideration. Lust was simply going to take matters into her own hands. Really, hadn't she always known that was the truth of things? Though it was said so blithely and often as a jest, 'if you want something done, do it yourself' proved time and time again to be an aptly uttered statement.

Anyway, she hardly needed a chaperone. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, even in her weakened state. Not to mention that she would hardly be the only prisoner seeking the cure. Most likely she'd find someone else, on their own and with the same goal.

Flashlight in hand and dressed in her former clothing, Lust ventured out into the hallway with a brisk and determined air. She had a mission tonight, and heaven help any fool who got in her way.

[to here]

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[From here]

Link watched the room numbers go by as he jogged through the hallway. He stopped in front of F9, collecting himself and knocking politely.

His breath was a touch heavy from the run.

[Soma, dearest!]

Edited 2012-12-01 00:37 (UTC)

The knock caught Soma unawares, which was probably a sign of just how badly she had taken Rapunzel's drawing. It was a moment before the sound registered, and when it did, she set down her fork with a clatter, hurriedly pushing her wheelchair back from her desk.

"Come in!" she called, scrubbing at her eyes instinctively and hoping Link would either be too distracted to notice the reddening or polite enough to keep any questions to himself. Her katana was propped against the desk; she pulled it to her, turning to face the door.

If Link noticed the puffy redness around Soma's eyes, he ignored it. He himself had only just been a mess inside his room, the reality of Sora's death finally taking its true toll. He offered a weary smile as he opened the door.

"Evening, Miss Soma." Link nodded politely. He left the door open behind him. "Thank you for your help." He glanced over to the sword leaned against the desk. It was unlike a blade he had seen before, long and thin and slightly curved as it was.

Link held out his carving knife- straight, sharp, and about eight inches long.

"We can trade. I know it's hardly equal, but..."

"Good evening," returned Soma, moving back a little so he could enter. "And just Soma, please."

Link seemed tired, but then they all did. They'd lost too many people over the last few days--people who couldn't be replaced.

Better not to think about that now. Soma retrieved the katana, holding it out to him hilt-first as she accepted the knife. "I don't know if you're used to this make of sword, so let me know if you're not used to it and we can trade back. I think it'll be more use in your hands than in mine, though."

"It should fine. Thank you very much, Soma." He amended his address of her. Link was used to a simple life in a close-knit village, but had naturally developed reflex to be cautiously formal since he had visited the city. People there were so different.

He looked at her straight in the eye.

"The beasts are in the residential halls, tonight. I'm not sure if they were once human or the usual creatures of this place, but I strongly suggest you stay inside." He paused for a moment. "Somebody has already been killed."

Soma nodded as she set the carving knife on her desk. "It's no problem."

Aside from a slight drawing together of her eyebrows, there was no visible reaction to Link's news. Inwardly, though, something twisted. If there were patients who were still turning into monsters, then it made sense that the nearby hallways wouldn't be safe anymore. But a death this early in the night...

"If the monsters are loose in the halls, I don't think trapping myself in my room would be a good idea," she said quietly. "I doubt the doors here would hold up against much of anything. But thank you for telling me. Can I ask...do you know who was killed?"

"That's true." Link sighed. "Just try to be safe. I don't know where we can hide, if not in our rooms. " More people didn't need to die. He inspected the sword carefully, as if to give himself something to do.

"I didn't know his name, but I've seen him around since I've been here. Tall, white hair. He had a large scar across his face." He could have been a Gerudo from his complexion, but the Gerudos had faded out centuries ago... hadn't they?

That hardly mattered. Another patient had died.

"I appreciate the warning." Already her eyes were moving around the room, cataloguing blind spots and lines of sight. Had creatures ever attacked patients in their rooms before? She couldn't recall. It seemed she had always taken their relative safety for granted. But if patients were turning into monsters here, there was no guarantee they wouldn't be going from door to door, looking for easy prey.

The thought rose, unbidden, of the patients who might be asleep in their rooms. Like Rapunzel had been last night. They might not wake in time...

She tried to hold that thought, focusing instead on the dead patient's description. She didn't know the man Link was talking about, but she was fairly certain she knew who he was talking about. She'd only seen the man once or twice during Dayshift. And now he was gone.

This place had always been dangerous. But it seemed a lot of patients had died in the last few days. More than usual. Why was that surprising? And why would Landel want to kill people he apparently had use for as soldiers? It didn't make any sense.

Still, they weren't going to get any answers here. It was all they could do to stay safe as it was. Soma looked up at Link, expression serious. "You should be careful, too. Especially if you're going anywhere tonight. Don't let me keep you."

"Of course." Link managed another smile, but it failed to touch his eyes. He was confident that he would be alright. He had emerged victorious against terrible foes.

And he would just push it out of his mind that he didn't have any of his proper weapons, or the help of Midna.

"Thank you again." He gave a polite nod of the head before turning to leave. Link shut the door behind quietly him. He could only hope that Soma (and everyone else, for that matter) would take care of herself.

[To here]

Edited 2012-12-02 00:14 (UTC)

Soma was quiet for a moment after the door shut behind Link. She'd never been the type to think before acting, but she did now. The circumstances demanded it.

There was something out there that was killing patients. Something that had already killed someone who'd looked like a fighter, if her memory was anything to go by. And if it was loose, it would only kill more people before the night was over. And there was no guarantee she'd be safe here. Not with the wheelchair as unwieldy as it was, with no maneuverability to speak of and all the furniture getting in the way. She was a sitting duck if it came for her in here.

Frowning, she pivoted carefully, opened her closet doors, and received her second surprise of the evening. Her old uniform.

It was the last thing she expected to see hanging in front of her--something she hadn't even considered. Of course there were people here who had their own outfits, and if anything it made Special Counseling patients that much more difficult to identify--but she hadn't thought she'd get her own clothes back. She hadn't seen the point of it. What would be the use? There was no tactical advantage to them.

And yet she couldn't bring herself to leave the clothes in the closet. Even if they were only a convincing facsimile, they were a reminder of home. Of everything waiting for her back in the HRL, and everything she'd been.

Cautiously, she pushed herself to her feet, testing the limits of her strength. She was pleasantly surprised when she stayed upright, a slight twinge in her abdomen the only sign that she was better off not pushing her luck. After that, shrugging off the loose-fitting grey sweats was easy, and it was impossible to deny that she felt a little better once she was back in the familiar uniform. At the very least, she wouldn't have that stupid smiley face on her chest anymore.

Then she sat back down in her wheelchair, moved back to her possessions box, and field stripped her pistol for cleaning. If anything was coming tonight, she had better be prepared.

[from here]

He didn't even bother knocking. Upon reaching F9, the Once-ler simply burst inside, slamming the door behind him and bracing himself against it, panting. For the moment he didn't say anything, simply trying to catch his breath. A few spatters of red dotted the bottom of his coattails, a consequence of his initial sprint through the gore-coated hallway.

Soma was in, at least. He just needed a moment to breathe.

Soma had only just reassembled her pistol when the door burst open.

She hadn't been expecting a visitor tonight. The first thing to go through her mind as something large, green, and unfamiliar charged in was that it was whatever had killed that patient.

Instinct kicked in before Marie could advise against it. She kicked the wheelchair out of the way and swung smoothly into a firing stance, grimacing as the motion pulled at her stitches. This was exactly what she'd been afraid of--being trapped in a room with limited mobility, with a creature blocking the only way out. She could only hope she had enough ammunition to--

She stopped, heart pounding in her ears. The barrel of the pistol was inches away from the Once-ler's face, and he looked about as terrified as she felt.

He was trying to brace the door. Why was he doing that? Was it--

"I almost shot you!" she said, hating how her voice shook. "What's out there? Is it after you?"

He wasn't anticipating Soma to move so fast, not out of a wheelchair. Nor was he expecting to be staring down the barrel of a gun seconds later. "Soma! It's me! It's me...." The Once-ler's heart was pounding fiercely. He was all too aware of how close he'd just come to being killed. And Soma knew it, too. She sounded as shaken up about it as he was feeling.

"I don't know. Something... it got my roommate. My new roommate, I was moved to M2, and he left before I did, and..." the Once-ler swallowed hard. "Something ripped him apart. Right outside the bathroom in the block. He's... he's everywhere." The man shuddered at the memory.

"I didn't see what did it, it must have been fast and-" he looked directly at Soma, "and could you please put the gun down? It's really making me nervous."

Soma took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. As far as she could tell, there were no sounds of pursuit, and now that she had the opportunity to concentrate, she was fairly sure she couldn't sense anything on the other side of the door. He must have seen the body and panicked--but was it the same one Link had mentioned?

"Sorry." She kept the gun in her hands, but she lowered it and tried another deep breath, moving back to sit on the edge of her desk. "I wasn't expecting you."

Not that that was much help, but she'd always trusted her reflexes. He was lucky they'd been slowed enough here for the rest of her to catch up.

"Your roommate," she said after a moment, frowning. "Was he tall? White hair, with a scar across his face?"

"Thanks." The Once-ler relaxed a bit as Soma lowered the gun. He was still very much unsettled, but the removal of the most immediate threat did wonders for his nerves.

"I didn't mean to just come crashing in, but..." he trailed off. Soma's roommate had already left, so she probably wouldn't mind too much if he borrowed her unused chair. The Once-ler moved over to the seat with a slight limp, and sank into the chair. For a moment he rubbed his face with both hands, before letting them drop and staring at the floor. "You didn't see what it looked like."

The man's face fell as Soma described Scar. "Yeah, he has, er, had white hair and the scar on his face. I suppose he was pretty tall, too."

Soma could imagine. More importantly, she could understand. She had never felt entirely at ease with death herself, less so when it was as bloody and brutal as death here seemed to be. It was one thing to see a unit's signal blip out of existence on a radar, or a mobile suit explode in the distance, sobering as both of those were. It was another to see flesh and bone torn apart and smell freshly spilled blood.

And yet she couldn't deny she felt a little relief. So it was only one patient so far. It didn't mean there wouldn't be more tonight, but...

"Link--I don't know if you know him--stopped by to pick up a weapon, and he told me the same thing," she said. "I thought maybe another patient had been killed. I'm sorry to hear it was your roommate, though."

She paused, turning the gun over in her hands. "Still, we shouldn't stay here. If whatever killed him is still out there, being trapped in a small room like this one is unwise."

"Link," the Once-ler repeated. "He was with Sora in the x-ray room, wasn't he? Three nights ago." The reality hit him. Had it only been three days? So much had happened, it felt like more time had passed. "As far as I know, Scar's the only one who has been... killed."

He frowned at the floor. "I had only just met him," the Once-ler murmured to himself. Scar hadn't been friendly, but the Once-ler didn't want him dead. It was all too soon.

He looked back up at Soma. "You're probably right about the room thing. But where would we go? The library again?" He shuddered. "I don't want to face that thing again." Now that his panicking had mostly subsided, he was noticing more things around. "Is that a military uniform of some sort?"

"That's right. He's interested in exploring the basement, so I was talking to him earlier today."

Soma was quiet for a moment after that. There wasn't much she could say in terms of comfort. 'Be glad you didn't know him that well'? What use was that?

Thankfully, the Once-ler spoke up then, and she looked up, thankful for the change in topic.

"Not the library," she agreed immediately. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew when it would be pointless to fight on, and whatever that thing had beaten them. "But...somewhere open. Somewhere we have room to maneuver if possible. I don't want to be trapped in a hallway with nowhere to run if I can help it. The courtyard, maybe. Or the rec field."

And--oh yes, there was a reason why she hadn't recognized him at first, and it had mostly been because of his clothes. She had to stare for a moment, taking in the sheer amount of...green. When he'd said he'd been in business, she'd imagined him in a sober black suit. This was...a suit, definitely. She less certain about the rest.

Her own outfit seemed to be receiving similar attention, and she nodded in response to his question. "It was mine. Or it was before I left the army, anyway. I guess you found your clothes in your room, too."

The Once-ler nodded. "I'd say whichever one's closer. Whatever it is, I think it moves pretty fast." He shook his head. "I really don't want to get caught in a small area with something that is capable of... that."

When he noticed Soma's stare, the man straightened unconsciously. "They were hanging in my closet. Actually, the belt and bags aren't mine. I just found them in the box that's in the closet. I don't know where they came from."

The Once-ler stood up and stretched, flinching a little as he put weight on his bad leg. "We should probably go pretty quickly, if that thing is out and around."

"Rec field, then," Soma said, blinking for a moment. She hadn't realized she was staring--it was just. Green. "The door's just down the hall."

She pushed herself carefully to her feet again, and this time she was vaguely gratified to find she could carry her weight well enough to walk, albeit gingerly. It was better than being stuck in that wheelchair--if worse came to worse, she was certain she could run.

"They might have come from someone you know," she added as she replaced her gun in its holster and put her radio in her pocket. Nights like this one, it was probably best to travel light. "Someone who might've been released recently. We get things from them, sometimes."

It was impossible to hide the twist of emotion that passed across her face, but she looked away quickly and hoped he hadn't noticed. "You're right. We should go."

[to here]

Edited 2012-12-07 05:04 (UTC)

Leanne didn't stay in her room for long that night, as eager as she was to go out and get a look at things herself. Besides... Something had clearly happened with Soma and, as much as she liked the girl, she wasn't sure her presence would be welcome for very long that particular night. At least, if it'd been her, she didn't think she'd have liked to have anyone see her like that.

She quickly gathered her things and, after a quick, slightly hesitant wave at Soma, rushed for the hallway.

[to here]

Tonight marked a change. To her credit, Flora had been keeping busy every night she'd been here, but she wouldn't be alone from the get go, for which she was terribly grateful. The circumstances were terrible, but she was glad to have a mission again, that sense of purpose. Though, that was the good thing about it, wasn't it? That there were people here who wanted to do something about it.

Having an objective was one thing, carrying it out successfully another, but she had to remain optimistic.

Taking her things, she left for the hallway to meet her partner for the night.

_{[To here]}

Edited 2012-12-04 13:42 (UTC)

When she started in her bed, it was already pitch-black -- the room was empty, and the silence was more than a little unnerving as she struggled to gather her bearings, to remember that bedtime didn't come with the evening here.

It's been a while since she'd simply blanked on making plans with someone, and as she sat on the edge of the mattress, she wondered if maybe her body was more stressed out than her mind had initially gauged of her.

But there wasn't much time to ruminate on that, she realized.

Still a little dazed and confused, she pulled herself up and -- checking to confirm her flashlight and hairpins on her -- was out the door in the next instant.

[ to here. ]

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Night 67: F1-F10 Hallway

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